Article February 3, 1997 Issue

Michigan winter camping—with a difference

by Kim Shippey

Summer camps for young Christian Scientists are held each year at several locations in the United States. Two of these are Leelanau and Kohahna, set amid 220 acres of wooded countryside along the shores of Lake Michigan. Leelanau also offers three-day camps for Michigan schoolchildren of all faiths, which are now available in spring, fall, and winter.

The first of this year's winter camps began two weeks ago under the direction of Clark Shutt, who's been running camps at Leelanau for more than ten years. We talked with him as early snows blanketed the hiking and skiing trails that will test the mettle of several hundred preteenagers before the wildflowers again show their faces on Lake Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes.

"As the children huddle around the fire on these bleak midwinter evenings," says Mr. Shutt, "we encourage them to think deeply about the words we have inscribed in wood above one of the fireplaces, Yesterday wood, tomorrow ashes, only today does the fire burn brightly. The spirit and meaning behind those words ring through all our activities at Leelanau—in all seasons. It's message that impels us all to live actively in the present. We want the children who come here to catch a glimpse of their real identity through the joys of selflessness, compassion, honesty, hard work, and gratitude.

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